Test Center Tracker: The promise of virtualization

All virtualization, all the time:: The se-cret word in the Test Center this week has been virtualization. (So has the word exclusive, for that matter.) Paul Venezia got an exclusive opportunity to try out Scalent Virtual Operating Environment, a solution the company claims to be a truly adaptive datacenter. A bold promise? Perhaps, but the company has come pretty darn close. “Combined with a very attractive and usable Flash-based GUI, V/OE 2.0 is a glimpse of what a truly adaptive datacenter could look like.”

Security at an unbeatable price:There may not be such a thing as a free lunch, but there such a thing as a free security tool, according to security-meister Roger A. Grimes. In fact, there’s a bunch, and they’re well worth the price of downloading (and more). You may not be seeing any nifty new freebies from Sysinternals, since Microsoft bought it a while back. However, Foundstone remains a great source. “Many of Foundstone’s tools became instant computer security classics, such as Superscan (an excellent port scanner), Fport (a port enumerator), stress testing tools, and all sorts of malware scanners. These are programs and tools that Foundstone’s own expert consultants and penetration testers use during security audits.”

Live from Interop NYC: Geek-out-of-paradise Brian Chee isn’t the only InfoWorld Test Center contributor at Interop NYC this week. Enterprise Windows columnist Oliver Rist couldn’t resist the call of the network gear, either. Check out his Emerging Enterprise podcast from the event in which he talks about the state of the WAFS standard and shares some tips on hooking together near-remote sites with more than just T1 lines.